verve and caprice

perspectives

sometimes it’s quite bothering to see people chase after “experiences.” they seem to say, i must do everything, go everywhere, otherwise i shall be boring. it seems that they need to fill themselves with new things, else they realize that beneath it all, nothing is new.

not to say that experiences are bad. without experiences, life does not exist. but to live your life in pursuit of experience is faulty. because then, experience is the highest goal and the god of your life. and thus, you judge your life, and perhaps even your friends’ lives, on what you and they have experienced. you have judged them on their ability to attain experiences, and “sophistication” of their experiences, not who they are.

heart of darkness

power doesn’t corrupt. it simply exposes what was already in the heart.

agape

you don’t believe in God? well fortunately for you, He does believe in you.

honesty

there is too little of it in this world. if you really care about your friends, you will be blunt to them, sharing your raw thoughts for their own good. and you will be willing to receive the same. so i’m going to make a commitment to have that kind of honesty, the kind that is not intended to hurt or wound, but the honesty that can cut deep to heal.

entertainment

its interesting to note how entertainment-oriented our society is. entertainment is so significant that it is considered its own industry, and people even dedicate their whole lives to entertaining other people. and sure, it meets a demand in our modern economy. but is this a good demand to fill? more than that, are there such things as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ demands?

the jury

english common law is an interesting contradiction in today’s modern society. the tradition is such that we use a jury to determine rulings. which means that we believe that the people know and should apply the law. but of course, this implies that the people have some universal sense of justice and morality, otherwise the system is unjust and futile.

of course we could claim that, well, the guiding principle is simply this: that the law should simply prevent one citizen from harming another. outside of that, your morality is your own. in other words, that the law should only work to maintain societal order. however, inherent in that basic ideal are ideas of universal import. there is the idea that human life is valuable, that you have a right to live peacefully, that peace itself is actually a good thing, that freedom is actually a good thing, and that a harmonious society of humans is desirable.

so here we stand, claiming the right to a subjective morality and worldview, yet standing on a legal system that requires a universal morality. our postmodern society should really figure this out.

value

God did not choose you because you had some value to His kingdom, but rather because you had no value; He intentionally turned the priorities of the world upside-down, so that your value would not be found in your worldly success but in your love for others.

the struggle is nothing but love

sometimes we forget that the things really worth having also require great risk and cost. no triumph comes without pain, no achievement comes without perseverance, and no victory comes without struggle. and so it’s worth remembering that the joy comes just as much from the journey, that the long and difficult road is a road of steadfast love.

two to tango

Camus once said, “don’t walk in front of me; i may not follow. don’t walk behind me; i may not lead. just walk beside me and be my friend.” and that holds true in all relationships. if you try to force it, i am unlikely to give in. if you wait for me to do all the work in the relationship, it won’t happen. but if you are willing to give and receive, to initiate and accept, therein lies the joy of a natural relationship, formed and conceived by the both of us. it takes two to tango.

implication

we live in a world filled with implications. every thought, idea that passes through your mind is predicated on other implications that allow you to accept the possibility of that idea or formulate that thought. every day that you walk down the street without giving it a second thought is another day in which you have given in to those implications. dare to challenge those implications and determine for yourself whether they are valid.